I’m using a Pinnacle Remote Kit (for MCE Certified for Vista USB 2.0 Interface) that was $30 off newegg, and it worked out of the box for Windows Media Center but I want to use other programs. All of this is being done on Windows Vista Ultimate.

Winamp

Winamp takes the cake for compatibility with this remote.

1. Press Ctrl+P to bring up preferences
2. From Global Hotkeys, enable default multimedia key support

Now winamp will respond to keys whenever it’s running unless another program has focus and wants the clicks for itself (like if you’re running Media Center).

Windows Media Player

I tested WMP first, and I could’ve sworn it wasn’t working, but after configuring winamp, WMP now responds to next, previous, play, pause, stop, volume, mute, back and OK seems to go to the previous file.

Media Player Classic

MPC, everyone’s favourite little open source player isn’t so friendly:

1. Press “O” to bring up options
2. Go to Player\Keys
3. Double click on the “key” entry, so for “Next Playlist Item” click on the string VK_NEXT, it turns into a drop down and you can change it to some of the media keys. The one’s I’m sure of are: VK_MEDIA_NEXT_TRACK, VK_MEDIA_PLAY_PAUSE, VK_MEDIA_PREV_TRACK, VK_MEDIA_STOP but I haven’t gotten play/pause to work correctly.